THE MARTIAN: EXTENDED EDITION REVIEWED
“The Martian” is a TED talk come to life. I hate stealing a train of thought I found on social media, but I can’t drop since I saw the film. Since it’s been a few weeks and I took forever to get the review out, we’ll drop a quickie for you. Mark Watney has been abandoned on Mars his crew. Upon returning to Earth, NASA assumes he’s dead until he manipulates equipment to broadcast to the world that he’s still allive. NASA debates the merit of returning for the man, while science saves the day.
Everyone in the free world has seen the movie by now, so there’s no need to sway opinion. What I will say is that this is a safe Oscar bait movie. The only person who really amped it up was Jeff Daniels who has been spending 2015 saving bloated films through amazing acting. Don’t believe me? Well, go see “Steve Jobs”. But, what does this mean for the golden years of Ridley Scott?
Well, he has redeemed himself for “Exodus”. But, did he really need to redeem himself? This is a guy who has bombed long stretches of his career doing films that were underwhelming. That being said, he’s a director with a vision that is unmatched by his contemporaries or the younger generation of filmmakers. The extended cut of the film is long overdue, but I appreciate that FOX took a chance on it. Especially after the film turned up a fat goose egg at the Oscars.
Slightly over 10 minutes longer, the audience gets to spend a little longer in Mark’s world. While there are no missing scenes, the extra time allows scenes to breathe and find their place. Some might call it lingering, but it works for what we need. It shows that Scott belongs to a previous generation, but he nails what we need.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Commentary on both cuts
- Featurettes
- Gag Reel
- Deleted Scenes
- Mission Videos
- and more!
A/V STATS
- 2.40:1 standard definition transfer
- DTS-HD 7.1 master audio track
